Veggie Shares for 12 Weeks: October 3rd to December 19th Meat Shares: The First Tuesday of Each Month (Oct 3, Nov 7, Dec 5)

We have updated our pick-up sites and are just serving San Marcos, Lockhart, and Wimberly. You can find all the details and pick-up times in our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section on our website.
For those who love a good deal, don’t miss out on our early bird pricing! If you pre-purchase the entire fall season upfront, you’ll enjoy a fantastic discount. But act fast, as this special offer is only available until September 22nd – that’s just around the corner!

Even if you miss the early bird deadline, worry not! We will continue to accept signups on a rolling basis throughout the fall season, albeit at full price. So, whether you’re an early bird or a latecomer, Central Texas Farmer Co-op is here to provide you with the freshest, locally sourced produce and meat.

A well-stocked pantry, like a library full of books, is a gateway to delicious meals, and a catalog of canned goods is a vital part of this equation. We’ll save boxes, bags, and freezer staples for another post, but today we’re talking about those goods that are preserved and packed in steel cans, which, in case you were wondering, are ribbed as a way to strengthen the metal, prevent denting, and allow for slight expansion/contraction.

Our Favorite Cans

Tomatoes: Diced, whole, and paste.

Tomato season, especially in Texas, is short, but rich and acidic tomatoes are useful for easy dishes, year-round. We like to keep a few cans of whole San Marzanos around, which we’ll use for tomato sauce- whether we’re making spaghetti and meatballs, Bolognese, or something in between. Whole or diced tomatoes are perfect for soups, stews, curries, and Creole dishes. And tomato paste – a perfectly concentrated tomato-umami bomb, is perfect for adding a deep tomatoey flavor to just about anything. Need some clues on how you should be using tomato paste? Check out this article which elaborates on a tomato paste must: cook it down a bit before piling on other ingredients. Need more convincing on why you should stock up on canned tomatoes? Here are 43 things to do with tomatoes in a can. 

Coconut Milk

We love keeping whole-fat cans of coconut milk and coconut cream on hand. Of course, these are essential to making many Southeast Asian soups, curries (see below), and stir-fries, but they’re also a preferred “dairy” to use anytime we’re making a cream-of-whatever-vegetables-needs-using soup. Sauté aromatics, add diced local vegetables, broth, and simmer. Stir in coconut milk, puree, and enjoy. Bisques, chowders, and creamy soups can come together at a moment’s notice by simply subbing coconut milk for perishable milk or cream. 

PROTIP: swing by one of Austin’s many Asian grocery stores like 99 Ranch or MT Mart to find a wider selection of coconut milk brands. We’ve been known to buy a case at a time.

Thai Curry Paste

Maesri is our favorite brand of Thai Curry paste. Making your own curry paste is great, and yes, the flavor may be slightly superior to these cans, but having a few of these on-hand turns a soulful pot of curry into a weeknight reality. The best part about Thai-style curries is that they’re easily adaptable to just about ANY Co-op veggie you bring home. Admittedly, we’re not an expert in the nuances of different types of Thai curries; there are many. Our favorite cans to have on hand are Panag, Green, Red, and Masaman. 

Beans

Canned beans, of all flavors, are a larder stalwart. Black beans get thrown into Southwestern and Mexican-style stews, salsas, and tacos. We love creamy black-eyed peas, perfect for folding into a wrap or making a salad. Often, we will rinse and strain black-eyed peas, then simply dress them with salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemon juice and store in the fridge. A scoop here, a spoonful there – beans or peas stored this way are easy to add to any plate throughout the week.  Hearty chickpeas, either straight from the can or roasted till crisp, are a wonderful addition to soups, salads, grain bowls, or just mixed with a big pile of sliced cucumbers. White beans are perfect for a Tuscan-style kale soup, white chicken chili, or, with the addition of whatever herbs and greens are available, to make a hummus-like dip that you can serve with even more crunchy fresh vegetables.  Canned refried pinto beans plus a tostada/chips/or a tortilla is a perfect foundation for ANY vegetable – freshly chopped or leftover and roasted. Melted cheese on top is merely a bonus.

Corn

Hear us out. Let’s celebrate canned corn. The texture and taste is, to me, closer to the fresh thing than any other canned vegetable. During Texas’s short fresh corn season, please eat the fresh stuff. But during all other parts of the year? We go for the canned. We love to add canned corn to soups and stews and salads – a sugary pop to make the perfect bite. Together with eggs and veggies, corn can liven up a quiche or frittata. Shredded veg + canned corn (+ flour and a binder) make a delicious fritter. 

Artichokes

We love to have a can of artichokes in the pantry. They feel lux and Mediterranean and are an easy meaty addition to a vegetarian meal.  Pat them dry and roast them in a hot oven or in a cast iron skillet and add them to salad, a pan of roasted chicken, or a creamy pasta sauce thick with local greens. Or, when your Co-op haul has run out, simply dress canned artichokes with some hefty glugs of olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and freshly chopped herbs for a quick vegetable side.

Fish

If you’re like us, there are times when we’re simply feeling like your vegetable-centric plate needs a little heft. If you haven’t gone to the grocery store or defrosted some meat, canned or tinned fish are an excellent solution. We love to make a huge salad or slaw, sometimes with pasta, and simply plop a can of oil-packed tuna on top. If you’ve been paying attention to recent food trends then you’ll know that tinned fish like sardines and mackerel (and oysters and octopus) are all the rage. There are some seriously high-quality products out there that can easily be added to a medley of blanched veggies, for example, to nudge the plate from snack to meal.

Green Chilis & Chipotle Peppers in Adobo

Canned green chilis are usually one of several varieties of pepper including jalapenos, poblanos, hatch, Anaheim, or Pasilla. Often, these peppers are roasted before they’re canned. Roasted or not, a can of green chilis (which are usually mild – not too hot, but not devoid of any heat), are a wonderful substitution for fresh peppers in… well, anything you would add fresh peppers to: a pot of chili, tortilla soup, beef stew, or even jambalaya. Whereas fresh onions and garlic have a pretty long shelf life, raw peppers usually won’t last longer than a week or so. Stocking your pantry with a can of diced chilis, plus the onions + garlic is a wonderful way to make sure you always have a flavor base for just about any pot. Chipotle peppers in adobo are an excellent addition to fold into a bowl of sour cream or yogurt or a pot of simmering vegetable soup to add some depth. More tips on how to work with canned peppers in adobo sauce here. 

A Fruity Thing

Farm work is time-consuming, and we don’t often have time to bake. But when the urge to make something sweet presents itself, it’s great to have some panty ingredients that will help satiate the sweet tooth.  Canned pumpkin becomes pumpkin bread, canned peaches (in water, not syrup), a crumble/pie/or galette. Canned pineapple rings to make a pineapple upside-down cake.

Pretty much every good cookbook has a section that totes a list of recommended pantry staples, and we hope this list of my favorite cans helps you fill your cupboard, and cook your Co-op vegetables.  Usually, it’s the procuring the fresh produce – the life force of the meal –  that is complicated… but if you’re reading this, we know you’ve got that bit covered. Now, to stock the pantry.

Is there a canned good that you love to have around? Let us know!

The Central Texas Farmers Co-op is a testament to the enduring relevance of the cooperative model. Founded in 2016, it is a farmer-owned and operated cooperative that provides high-quality, locally grown food through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. This initiative is founded on the principle of strength in unity, a philosophy that underpins all agricultural cooperatives.

The co-op came into being when a group of young farmers and farming advocates began convening monthly to explore the advantages of collaboration over competition. Out of these discussions, a plan emerged that sought to serve both the consumers who desired fresh, local produce, and the farmers who sought the stability to grow their businesses.

By pooling our resources and products, we can offer a wider variety of fresh produce and meat throughout the season, enhancing convenience and selection for our subscribers. Your commitment to the CSA gives us, the small and novice farmers, the security and confidence to nurture our farms further.

This cooperative isn’t a faceless wholesaler profiting from farmers’ toil. The Central Texas Farmers Co-op is made up of small and beginning farmers from Hays, Caldwell, Blanco, Bastrop, and Travis counties. When you support our co-op, you’re directly supporting your local farmers. For more information about our farmer members, click HERE.

Your support of our co-op truly makes a difference for our local farmers, as Becky Hume, owner of VRDNT Farm, shares: “The co-op was pivotal in helping me start the farm. Getting good prices and knowing I had an outlet for my crops was a huge factor in making me feel comfortable scaling up”.

While our model is simple, its implications are profound. We believe that relocalizing agriculture is key to improving our health, bolstering community resilience, and enhancing the environmental and economic well-being of our community. By choosing to support local and regenerative agriculture, you’re not just buying the freshest, highest quality food — you’re contributing to a legacy of mutual support and sustainable agriculture that has stood the test of time. As we carry this proud tradition into the future, we invite you to join us in this exciting journey from our fields to your fork.

If you’re new to eating hyper-local, seasonal produce, purple daikon radishes may be a new-to-you crop. The new-to-you genre of vegetables is part of what makes eating local food an adventure, and purple daikon (like garlic chives and maybe fennel) often fall into this category of “what exactly should I do with this?“

Maybe you’re still at the beginning of your relationship with daikon… you unpack your Co-op share, are relieved to see carrots and excited to find lettuce, and then you hit the daikon. Sure, it’s beautiful and purple… splashes of magic in an otherwise green bounty, but what is there to do with daikon besides marvel at the hue? For many corners of the world (like Japan, where daikon is the most-consumed vegetable), daikon radishes are as familiar as the cardinals crowding your feeder. Maybe you already know this root, possessing an intimate cultural understanding of how, and when, to integrate the vegetable into your cooking.

Or maybe you’re asking yourself, “What should I do with daikon?”.

The answer? Quite a lot.

Like all radishes, daikon are a member of the Brassicaceae family. Oblong daikon radishes – purple, white, green, and all the shades in between – are well suited to Central Texas. Some farmers (and ranchers) even use daikon as a cover crop. The strong and deep tap roots help loosen compacted soil and act as a living mulch. (Do you have some bare dirt in your garden? Throw out a handful of daikon seeds and see what happens.) Daikon radishes grow easily, especially in sandy soils, and make EXCELLENT storage crops. Meaning: if you harvest daikon, remove the green tops, and the roots can last for a good while in proper cold-storage conditions.

Unlike spicy red radishes, daikon is milder and slightly sweet. Like a carrot, you can eat daikon cooked or raw. In addition to their culinary uses, purple daikon radishes are also prized for their potential health benefits. They are a good source of vitamin C, fiber, and antioxidants, and may have anti-inflammatory and cancer-fighting properties.

Without any more dally, 10 daikon recipes.

1. Boiled Daikon

One of the easier dishes to make on this list. Tossed at the end with sesame oil, boiled daikon makes a fuss-free side dish. Oh, and if you’re not in the habit of sometimes using boiling water to cook your produce, might I recommend this Tamar Adler’s bit on boiling from her beloved cookbook, An Everlasting Meal. Inviting the simple act of boiling into your kitchen will create some ease in the seasonal cooking work flow. We promise.

2. Korean Style Quick Pickled Radish

We don’t often watch an entire recipe video, but the cool guitar and easy-as-could-be quick pickle in this recipe video has us hooked. Do yourself a favor and make this quick-daikon-pickle. And if you’re familiar with the yellow-version of pickled daikon, Takuan in Japanese, or Danmuji in Korean, here is a recipe for that.

3. Radish and Potato Gratin

A dense and mild root, dare we suggest you make gratin of daikon, only. Still on the hunt for more daikon dishes? Think like a potato, and go from there. It makes an easy substitute in many instances.

4. Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps

Pretty much your entire Co-op produce bag could be used for this recipe.

5. Spiralized Daikon “Rice Noodle” Bowl

Recipes like this are a great illustration of how chopping -nay, spiralizing- a vegetable in a different way can yield a new-to-you way to use the vegetable. Recipes like this are why a spiralizer and mandoline made our list of must-have CSA kitchen tools.

6. Hawaiin Pickled Beet Salad (w/ daikon)

“Recipes like this reflect the influence of Japanese immigrants who came to Hawaii to work on the sugar plantations in the 1800s. Recipe adapted from Chef Greg Harrison, Pacific’O Restaurant.” Local been availability has slowed, but HEB should be well-stocked if you want to make this recipe exactly.

7. Daikon Kimchi

Making kimchi requires a longer ingredients list than just a quick pickle, but the results are well worth the effort and an extra trip to your favorite Asian market.

8. Purple Daikon Chips

Spade and Plow, the farm that published this recipe, knows what’s up. (One of the head growers farmed in Central Texas for many seasons before moving home to California). High heat and a thin crunch (mandoline is perfect here) = delightful chip. Need a dip? Might we recommend this sizzled scallion and labneh dip, which is good on any vegetable.

9. Braised Daikon or Daikon No Nimono

Did anyone else watch the latest season of Top Chef? Like so many, we fell in love with Chef Shota Nakajima and was delighted to learn more about the subtleties of Japanese flavors and techniques with him as captain. (His Instagram is an awesome one to follow for recipe and border collie inspo!) In one episode, Shota braised daikon which, on tv, ended up looking like succulent scallops. Here is a recipe based on Shota’s version, specifically.

10. Daikon Oroshi

We saved my favorite “recipe” for last. Daikon Oroshi is a Japanese dish that is simply, finely grated daikon that is stored in some of its juices. The result acts as a condiment and tiny spoonfuls are perfect to top and accompany just about any dish from udon noodles to fried fish. If you’re unsure of what to do with your daikon, take a note from this use-case and simply grate the daikon and serve raw, alongside… anything you cook.

No excuses to let your daikon go limp. Happy cooking!

Late spring in Texas means we can still enjoy lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, and radishes, while slowly sliding into all the exciting delicacies of late spring, including potatoes, leeks, storage onions, zucchini, and cucumbers. It will still be another month or so until we’re in the full zenith of tomatoes and peppers, but the next few weeks will be some of the most diverse with lots of new fresh vegetables coming up in your COOP veggie shares.

As always, thank you for supporting your Central Texas Farmers. We hope your meals are as delicious as the season is bountiful!

And now, a Recipe Roundup:

Dark Leafy Greens: Collards, Spinach, Kale, Chard, Komatsuna

Brothy Tortellini Soup w/ Spinach,
White Beans & Basil
Creamy Spinach Soup with Mint
Kale Salad with Buttermilk Dressing
Catalan Sauteed Spinach
Asian Style Rainbow Swiss Chard Wrap
Swiss Chard Tahini Dip
Dark Greens Quiche

Radishes

Radish and Herb Butter Tea Sandwiches
Spring Peas with Anchovy, Lemon, and All the Radishes
Whipped Feta Dip
Shredded Egg Salad
An Immunity Soup to Lighten Up Your Insides
Tumeric Grilled Tofu Spring Rolls
Miso Butter Roasted Radishes

Lettuces + Arugula

Celery Salad with Sour Apples and Walnuts
Three Easy Salad Dressing Recipes with Samin Nosrat (video)
Best Cesar Salad Dressing
Little Gem Salad with Fresh Herbs
Arugula Pesto

Alliums: Chives, Scallions, Leeks, Spring Onions

Lemony Asparagus & Leek Rissoto
Flavorful Leek Oil
Coconut Corn Chowder with Leeks
Labneh Dip with Sizzled Scallions and Chili
Bitter Leafy Salad
Grilled Corn and Scallion Salad
Peanut Noodles

Beets

Apple Ginger Beet Smoothie
Refrigerator Pickled Beets
Instapot Beets
Russian Beet Salad with Sour Cream and Dill
Beet Salad with Goat cheese and Balsamic
Beet Hummus

Cucurbits: Zucchini + Cucumber

Cucumbers with Red Onion and Sesame
Pasta Salad with Zucchini, Scallions, and Parmesan
Highly Seasoned Cucumber Salad
Smashed Asian Cucumber Salad
Smashed Cucumber, Avocado, and Chickpea Salad
Zucchini Ribbon and Basil Salad
Creamy Cucumber Salad Recipe

Hungry for more recipes? Here’s another great list.

1. Salad spinner

Here in Central Texas, spring and fall are considered “salad season”, and there is no better tool to help you use your local greens than a salad spinner. Here is a great option. Having clean and very dry greens is vital to getting the most out of your lettuce. Well-dried greens will not only last longer in the fridge, but they’ll also more easily accept oil-based dressings which will slip off of wet leaves. Even though it takes up a lot of fridge space, we often store washed and dried greens directly in the spinner, in the fridge. (Have you ever seen the way many small farms use old washing machines to dry their greens? Watch a video here.) 

2. Veggie cleaver

Have you ever heard of a vegetable cleaver? It’s safe to assume most of your vegetable prep is happening either with a big chef’s knife or a tiny pairing knife. But there is an option in between. Vegetable cleavers, also known as a Chinese chef’s knife or Chinese cleaver,  are similar to a cleaver you’d use with meat, except smaller in scale. They’re easy to hold and handle than a meat cleaver but have a heft to them that makes chopping, slicing, and dicing a breeze. We like this one from Made-In (an Austin-based company), though there are plenty of great options, varying in price range, out there. Like a good pillow, invest in your knives. 

3. Mandolin

If there was one tool on this list that would win the ‘annoying-to-store’ award, it would be a mandolin. But if you’re constantly wading your way through a haul of root vegetables like carrots or radishes, or even summer spoils like onions and cucumbers, a mandoline is a must. Using a mandolin, salads of thinly sliced roots come together in a jiff. Sometimes over-powering fennel is rendered a delicate wisp with a mandoline. It’s great if you’re making pickles or escabeche, and we won’t make coleslaw without it.  Like the salad spinner, a good mandoline is worth the space. If you’ve never owned a mandolin before, maybe go with the starter, hand-held variety. Know you love a mandolin and want to up your game? Go for one with an arm brace and various blade settings. Either way, please watch your fingers, and don’t get greedy with that last carrot nub. 

4. Julienne Peeler or Zoodler

If you don’t have either of these tools, we’d recommend starting with at least one. We’re not sure that you really need both, but you definitely need one.  A tool that quickly transforms veggies into thin stringy things is useful beyond just a noodle replacement. You can use thinly-sliced or noodled vegetables as a salad or stir-fry component. Raw zucchini strings tossed with some chili, lime, and fish sauce is an excellent, easy side. We like this Japanese peeler that comes in a thick or thin-Juline size. As for the zoodle-er, we’ve tried many of them and prefer the small hand-held version which takes up minimal space and feels like an easy answer to a pile of sweet potatoes.

5. Souper Cubes

When you’re signed up for a CSA, it’s hard to pump the breaks on the influx of veggies. The best way to deal with too many veggies when it’s a busy week and you’re eating out? Freeze them. Super Cubes are a great way to freeze your vegetables. Once frozen, pop the cubes out and put them in a ziploc, freeing up the cube mold for more preservation. Greens on their way out with no plan in sight? Quickly saute, then freeze them. Bumper harvest of parsley from the garden? Frozen chimichurri for the year. Sauces like ragu or curries, soups, leftover braised meat… the cubes are perfect for them all. We especially love them during tomato season when they make the perfect vessel to freeze a mess of confited cherry tomatoes or batch fresh salsa.

6. Immersion Blender

It may sound ludicrous, but we’d trade our immersion blender for a food processor and regular blender, both.  Why? Because they’re easy to clean and therefore far more accessible. Our immersion blenders actually get used, frequently, and the act of pulling it out is untethered to any fear of cleaning. Literally, just a quick rinse under hot water will often do.  An immersion blender can make hummus, spreads, pestos, and blended soups. In the wintertime, a quick pureed soup is only a moment away. Summer tomatoes and cucumbers can quickly become a cool gazpacho. It’s like a magic wand, but for your CSA vegetables.

7. Box Grater

A box grater is a classic, inexpensive tool, that has far more utility than shredding a block of cheddar. It’s an excellent tool to have around if you’re working through a lot of vegetables. Grated radish can become a quick pickle condiment. Grated onions are excellent mixed in a salad, or dissolved in a sauce. Grate carrots for a classic French or Indian salad, or to throw in a carrot cake. Grated raw beets, quickly tossed in a bit of vinegar and dash of sugar, make for an excellent salad topping. Grate a tomato, strain, and spread on toast for a Spanish pan con tomate. You get the idea. 

8. Microplane

For having such a limited scope of use – zest, garlic, ginger, and the occasional nutmeg – our microplane gets a lot of use. If you’re a CSA Member with a fridge stocked of local produce, you know that you don’t need to do much to make the veggies sing. Garlic, lemon, salt, and olive oil are often all that’s needed to transform a vegetable from a raw crop to a delicious dish… and a microplane can help you with both the garlic and (lemon) zest bit. Enjoying some of your vegetables raw but need a quick vinaigrette? A clove of garlic is a good idea. A friendly aside, if you’re like us and are often buying lemons to supplement your CSA shares but are not using the zest… you’re missing out! Even if you don’t have an immediate use for the zest, you can let it dry out on a plate, and then store it in a jar for future use. Dried zest is great sprinkled on veggies, over a salad, mixed in a batter, or even steeped in tea. 

Happy cooking! And as always, thanks for supporting your Central Texas Farmers.